Colson Whitehead: The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead’s 'The Underground Railroad' tells the story of Cora, who like so many slaves before her, runs toward freedom. In this telling, however, the “underground railroad” is not a metaphor, but an actual subterranean train. Whitehead topped The New York Times bestseller list and won the National Book Award and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for how he brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors of black people before the Civil War, a narrative that weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of today. Pulitzer Prize-winning Tribune columnist Mary Schmich joins Whitehead in conversation.

This program is presented in partnership with the Chicago Tribune.

See upcoming CHF events: http://chicagohumanities.org

Help us subtitle and translate our videos: http://chf.to/SubtitleCHF

Subscribe for more thought-provoking videos: http://chf.to/SubscribeCHF

Support CHF with a donation: http://chf.to/Support-CHF

Follow CHF on Twitter:   / chi_humanities  

Like CHF on Facebook:   / chicagohumanities  

Subscribe to the CHF podcast on iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ch...

Help us caption & translate this video!

https://amara.org/v/mc2h/